Lankeer
by jennytork
Summary: Story 2 in the "MaryJohn" AU. The day started with a collision alert and progressed to a Bermuda Triangle of a world that led to Cas literally getting shot from the sky. Can the Brothers Winchester escape Lankeer?
1. Chapter 1

**LANKEER**

**CHAPTER ONE**

If there was one thing that earthbound souls knew about space, it was that it was huge. And cold. There was no air to breathe, and it was nearly empty.

There were a hundred million stars out there, but in between them there was nothing. Nothing at all. Just vacuum.

All the earthbound knew this to be fact.

Their scientists had told them so long ago.

But those who lived out there knew that the earthbound scientists had gotten it wrong.

**SPN LANKEER SPN**

There was no regular sleep cycle aboard a spaceship. And it was rare when the entire crew took a rest all at the same time.

But at this time, the red-and-silver cruiser designated the _MaryJohn_ glided silently through the vacuum on autopilot while her three crew members all dozed. It was a truly peaceful scene. Restful. Calm.

Too bad it couldn't last.

When they had set up the controls to the _MaryJohn_, they'd hit a quandry on the alerts. One or another of the brothers would sleep through any alarm at any given time. It was a little unpredictable as to which one would. So, they'd programmed them all differently.

So when the lights snapped abruptly on in their sleeping quarters and their father's voice bellowed out an alert, the Winchester brothers were instantly awake.

"What the hell?" Sam gasped, bolting upright in his overlong single bed.

"I don't know!" his older brother Dean yelped from his bottom bunk, struggling to untangle his legs from the covers.

Suddenly there was a blur of black and tan in Dean's peripheral vision and he turned his head as he heard the _"THUMP!"_ of bare feet hitting carpeted floor from several feet up and saw the back of Cas as he raced for and through the door after having jumped from the top bunk.

Finally extricating himself, Dean muttered something about ladders as they strode out the door. Sam looked behind them and his brows drew together in brief concentration before the pneumatic doors closed. "Why'd he skin outta here so fast, anyway?" Sam asked.

Dean looked up, thinking _Shut up! _The alarm obligingly shut off. "Proximity alarm, that kept saying."

"Shit, that's a collision alert!" Sam cursed, and after a quick glance at each other, their fast walk became a full-fledged run the last hundred yards to the _MaryJohn_'s bridge.

They arrived to hear Cas bellow, "Sit down before you're thrown down!"

Dean raced to the seat behind Cas and Sam vaulted into the navigator's chair.

Cas's cobalt eyes were narrow and his tanned knuckles were white on the controls. "Here we go! Evasive in three - two - one!"

The _MaryJohn_ lurched and pitched. The effect reminded Dean of one of those huge roller coasters he'd splurged and taken Sammy onto for his thirteenth birthday.

It also reminded Dean that he'd been the one to puke up his internal organs after those huge roller coaster rides.

"There, we're past!" Cas turned in his chair to study Dean. "You okay back there?"

"Peachy," Dean ground out through clenched teeth. Cas got up and went over to the covered sink in the corner, getting a glass of water and bringing it to Dean before collapsing back into the pilot's chair. Dean shot him a grateful smile and after downing half the glass in one long gulp, asked, "What the hell was _that?"_

"I don't know," Sam said, his fingers flying over the equipment. "But we're going to find out."

"I was too busy trying to..." Cas was interrupted by a huge yawn, which brought Dean's attention back to him. "...to avoid getting hit by it to pay attention to what it was." He glanced over, noticed Dean's scrutiny, and frowned. "What?"

Dean couldn't help the smile. Cas - he had dropped the '-tiel' from his name about the same time he'd stopped introducing himself as "a former angel of the Lord" and started just saying a simple,_ "I'm Cas Winchester, ma'am"_ - looked much younger than the 20 or so Gabriel had aged him to when he had turned him human. "You look like a kid."

Cas looked down at himself, at the rumpled black sweatpants and faded "AC/DC" tshirt. He and Dean were the same size and shared clothing. There wasn't so much 'Dean's clothes' or "Cas's clothes' anymore, as there were 'our clothes'. Sam's oversized frame, however... Cas finally figured it out. Wiggling his bare toes, he looked up and smiled. "There wasn't time for shoes."

They shared a short laugh, and even pre-occupied Sam cracked a smile. Then Dean asked, "Seriously, are you okay? That was a hell of a jump for just being awake two seconds."

"I'm all right. The soles of my feet and my ankles don't like me very much right now," Cas grinned, "but honestly, I'm all right. You're the one with gooseflesh."

"Huh?" Dean looked down at the tiny bumps raised on his arms and bare legs. "S'what I get for sleepin' in shorts and a t-shirt and barrelin' through the halls in 'em." He wiggled his own bare toes in emphasis, and Cas chuckled softly.

Sam made a soft growling noise, and Dean got up and walked over. "Problem?"

"I can't get a lock on the damned thing," Sam groused. "I got a general size and direction, I got a sense of the speed of it - but I can't get a _lock_ on it!"

"Give it a rest, then." Sam started to protest, and Dean curled his hand on the back of Sam's neck. "I'm serious. We're all just woken up. Hell, we're all still in our _pyjamas_. Let's go get changed and - at the very least - caffeinated, and then we'll track the damned thing. Okay?"

Sam didn't so much sigh as he did blow the air out of his cheeks, but he nodded and stood up. As they got to the doorway, Cas erupted in another jaw-cracking yawn.

"Correction," Dean said. "Sammy and I get dressed and fed. _You_ get some more sleep."

"I'm fine," Cas shot back. "Seriously, I just -" A third yawn was met with two nearly identical 'Really?' glances, and he shook his head. "All right, perhaps a little more wouldn't hurt."

"That's my boy," Dean chuckled and they filed out of the bridge.

Behind them, a single light on the navigation console started to blink.

**SPN LANKEER SPN**

Having two bathrooms off their quarters sure saved a lot of time, Dean mused as he sat on the edge of Sam's bed and tugged on his boots, before running a hand over his damp hair and smiling. He'd not cut it since the day he and Sam had gotten their tattoos, and it was starting to curl slightly over his forehead when he left it ungelled.

He decided today he'd leave it ungelled. His brothers were the only ones who'd see him, anyway.

Dean made up Sam's bed and then his own, before retreating back to Sam's bed and sitting, looking up at the top bunk. Dark messy hair and a lax left hand drifting over the side was all he could see, but his lips drew up in an amused smile as he heard the soft sighs punctuated by an occasional sharp snort.

Cas snored. Who would have thought?

In Dean's wildest dreams, he never would even have thought anything remotely like this could possibly be his life. Never - not even in his wildest science-fiction movie fueled fantasies - had he ever dreamed he would be living in space, hundreds of light-years from Earth, with his Gigantor of a brother by his side.

All because he had made a deal with a Crossroads Demon for Sam's life.

Once that deal had been found to be a trick to get Dean into Hell and start the Apocalypse by torturing him until he broke and started torturing others - and that rogue angels were working together with demons to make it happen too early and without the approval of God - things had changed fast and furious for the Winchesters.

Removed from Earth by a race called the B'Shain - befriending a ship full of them - and having Bobby and the Harvelles Removed for their protection as well. Sam got a bit of marrow from Dean and the demon blood issue was solved.

As a permanent result of the Deal, Sam and Dean each carried a sliver of the other's soul. They were soulmates in the most literal of senses. And that manifested itself in some interesting ways that were still making themselves known.

And then, there was Cas. Castiel, the guardian angel of Thursday. Castiel, who became Cas Winchester - human being, with all its slings and arrows - so he could travel the stars with the Winchesters. Cas, who was older than they could imagine, but so much like a child in other ways that he'd been adopted by them as their youngest brother.

Cas still had something of an angel's Grace. He healed faster and had wings that he could actually use. Because he'd had them all his life and he'd been able to fly all his life, it seemed only natural that he was the _MaryJohn_'s primary pilot. The difference was, being mostly human, when he chose to use them the wings were now visible.

They were all happy in their new lives. The only drawback was - because of the Deal that had necessitated all this in the first place - the Winchester brothers could never return to Earth. The minute Dean's feet touched Earth, the terms of the Deal would restart where they had left off. He would have that much of his year left, and no more.

Nobody had ever told them this, but Dean could sense that would be what would happen. His brothers and Bobby told him he was being ridiculous, but he knew what he knew.

And right now, sitting on Sam's overlong bed and watchng Cas sleep while the _MaryJohn _cruised through the blackness of space, he knew that Sam was taking way too long in the shower.

He got up and pounded on the bathroom's pneumatic door. "You gonna be in there till we have another proximity alert?" he called.

"Bite me!" came the instant retort, and Dean smiled. "Cas still out?"

"Snorin' away!" Dean called back. "Dude can sleep through anything but alerts!"

He heard the shower cut off and seconds later the door slid open to reveal Sam with a towel around his waist and another working on his long hair. "I noticed that. Next time we have him in the medical bay, maybe we need to shove him under a scanner and see if Gabriel really did restore all of his hearing."

Cas had been beaten badly by his former brothers when he had become human. They had tried to use their true visages and voices to blind and deafen him. Because of his residual Grace, they had only been partially successful. Gabriel had healed Cas's eyes and ears shortly before they'd been given the _MaryJohn_, but there were times when Sam and Dean wondered how complete the healing was.

Gabriel was, after all, a consummate Trickster.

Dean scowled slightly at the top bunk. "You think he might not have?"

"I don't know." Sam crossed to their shared chest of drawers, something he hadn't had since Stanford, and got out clothes. He dried off and dressed before he finished, "But I know sometimes the alerts are all that wake him and I've noticed him looking at our mouths when we speak."

Dean's scowl turned into a worried frown. "But he would have said something-"

"Dude," Sam interrupted, giving him a pointed look as he slid on his boots. "He's a _Winchester."_

"True." Dean sighed. "Okay, so how do we go about finding this out?"

The Winchester in question suddenly yawned and rolled over, yelping as he rolled completely out of the top bunk and into the slightly wider bottom bunk.

Dean and Sam instantly burst out laughing, and Dean called over, "Dude, you okay?"

"I am uninjured," Cas growled as he sat up and fruitlessly tugged his hands through his hair to get it in some measure of order. "And I have found a side-effect to dreams."

"Bunk-diving?" Dean quipped.

"No." Cas scowled up at him, then stood. "I think I might know what that was that nearly collided with us earlier."

"Cool!" Dean said, sitting down on Sam's bed. "So what was it?"

"It was a space-based virus," Cas said, spreading his hands. "Grown to enormous proportions. It was headed for Earth." He frowned suddenly, lowering his hands. "Though that makes no sense, because we are light years from Earth and even if it was, how could a virus grow that large and ..." He blinked. "Dean, why are you laughing?"

Dean just shook his head, unable to speak. He waved a hand languidly and keeled over backwards onto Sam's bed, laughing until he had tears leaking from his eyes.

Sam chuckled. "Cas, that's the scenario of one of those novels we were telling you about a few weeks ago."

Cas frowned. "Then why would I dream it?"

Sam and Dean looked at each other, and Dean howled with laughter as he gestured at Sam. "All yours, kiddo!"

"Thanks," Sam sighed. He came over to sit beside Cas. "You know what dreams are, right?"

"Yeah, they're the human subconscious's way of working out things the brain immediately can't."

"And they're also tied to our imaginations," Sam said. "It's like a storehouse of everything a human sees and hears and experiences. And it pulls them out in sometimes random order and plays it like movies in your mind."

Cas nodded slowly. "So I'm dreaming about enormous space-traveling viruses because -"

"Because we narrowly avoided colliding with something," Sam said.

"Great flying, by the way," Dean managed to put in, which made Cas grin proudly.

Sam shared the grin. "-and your brain latched onto the memory of that plot because that's close to what we went through and you were trying so hard to figure out what it was-"

"-that my brain supplied _an_ answer," Cas finished. "But not _the_ answer."

"Considering those things aren't even remotely _real..."_ Dean gasped out, wiping his eyes. "I'd say not!" Then he sobered. "Uh - they _aren't_ real...are they?"

Cas shrugged. "Your knowledge of life-forms out here is approximately the same as mine."

Sam got to his feet, swearing curtly as his head impacted with the bottom of the top bunk. Massaging the impact site, he moved to the door. "Bobby might know."

Dean sat up. "You gonna give him a call?"

"Might as well. Time we checked in, anyway."

Cas stood up. "Say hello for me."

Dean frowned. "Aren't you going to be there with us?"

"Depends on how fast I get showered and dressed." He headed for the bathroom.

"Don't fall asleep in there," Dean called.

Cas glared after him. "That was _one time,_ Dean! _One time..."_

They left him spluttering. "Dude," Sam laughed. "That was mean."

"Yeah," Dean grinned. "I got _two_ brothers to torment now."

"You're loving this."

"Every damn minute."

**SPN LANKEER SPN**

Exiting out on to the _MaryJohn's_ bridge, Sam frowned. "Huh."

"What is it?" Dean asked, pouring himself a drink of water as Sam settled himself in the navigator's chair.

"There's a light blinking here." He tapped in a series of commands as Dean settled into the pilot's chair.

"Any idea why?" Dean drained his water and checked the controls. They had been drifting ever since their near-collision, and they were now off-course.

Sam huffed slightly. "We're off-course."

"I just saw that," Dean said. He shut down the autopilot and nudged the controls until they were back on course. "Did that make the light go out?"

Sam studied it. _Blink... Blink..._ "Yeah. It went out."

"So that was telling us that we were off the programmed course." Dean grinned. "Okay, that's a new one. I wonder if we're even close to learning everything about this wonderful ship of ours."

"Are you kidding?" Sam grinned back at him. "Then what would be the fun of things?"

"You're a weird one, Sammy." But Dean's words were punctuated by a wink.

Sam just grinned and called up a display, studying where they were heading. "You gonna contact Bobby?"

"Working on it." Dean glanced over. "Where are we heading?"

"Huh."

"I get nervous when you say that." Dean got up and leaned over Sam's shoulder, studying the display as well.

"Sorry." He traced the display. "The thing that nearly hit us? It headed this way. And our path veers here - taking us on the same track."

Dean frowned. "And we're heading for a world."

"We are." They had taken to using 'world' for the inhabited planets and 'planet' for the uninhabited ones. "I don't recognise the co-ordinates, though."

"But it's definitely a world?"

"Yeah, it's a world. See? The computer puts the planets as red and the worlds as blue."

Dean frowned at the blue sphere, then retreated back to his seat. "I'm dialing."

Sam sat back and waited while Dean activated the communications channel.

Bobby's voice came ringing into the cabin a few minutes later. "Which Winchester's this?"

"Dean and Sam," Dean said. "Cas is in the shower. Why don't you have the video link on?"

"Cause I can't get used to these damned things!" Bobby snarked at him. "You got yours on?"

"Always," Dean grinned. "It's the red button next to the-" The screen leapt to life and Bobby's sleepy eyes suddenly appeared. "You're too close."

He rolled back, his office chair swiveling as he did so. "Better?"

"Better," Dean said. "We've had quite a morning. We had a near-miss with a bogie and now we're heading for a world where we think the bogie's gone as well."

Bobby scratched his beard. "That means your bogie's probably something intelligent. Like you've got a ship on your hands. What world?"

"We don't know. It's in the database as a world, but we don't recognise the co-ordinates."

"Fine," Bobby said. "Send 'em here."

Dean glanced over at Sam, who was already preparing the packet. He nodded as he pressed the final buttons.

Smiling, Dean turned back to the screen. "Sent."

Bobby studied the information packet for a moment, and his eyes narrowed. "You're heading to _these_ co-ordinates?"

"Yeah," Dean said. "Why?"

Bobby let out a soft growl. "Well, shit."

**CONTINUED...**


	2. Preparations

**LANKEER**

**CHAPTER TWO**

Dean sat back and frowned. "Okay," he said slowly. "It's never a good sign when your first reaction to something is 'Well, shit'. What's up?"

The pneumatic doors opened behind Dean and Bobby said, "Oh, good, you're all here and I only have to say it once. Hi, Feathers."

"Hey, Bobby." Cas sat down behind Dean. He was dressed now, in jeans and a green flannel shirt, and his hand was carding through still-damp ebony curls, futilely trying to finger-comb them into a semblance of neatness. "Say what once?"

"We've got something intelligent on our hands," Sam filled him in. "And our paths converge on a world. We sent Bobby the co-ordinates to the world and he just cursed about it."

"And then you walked in," Dean finished.

Cas nodded. "Okay, so what's with the colourful language? What is it about that world?"

"You've read the records," Bobby said. "It used to be called Lankeer."

Cas frowned as he thought back. As an angel, he had perfect recall of everything he had ever seen and heard and read. As a human, his memory was still better than either of the human born Winchesters, but it took more work to access. And when he was trying to access his memories was when he looked the most like the "humanoid bird" they'd once called him.

His head tilted and his frown deepened, then his eyes widened and his head raised. "Lankeer was one of the outlying worlds, yeah? Wasn't in the Alliance of Seven?"

Dean leaned over and whispered, "Why do they call it the Alliance of Seven when there's fifty worlds in it?"

Sam grinned back, "Why do they call it the Big Ten when there's sixteen teams?"

"Aah," Dean nodded. "Gotcha."

"Big Ten what?" Cas asked.

Dean opened his mouth to explain, then blinked and shut it. "It...It doesn't matter any more, Cas. Don't worry about it." When Cas opened his mouth, Dean finished, "Tell you what, I'll explain later, okay?"

"Okay." Cas turned back to the screen, waiting for Bobby to answer his question.

Bobby seemed to be pulling something up on his computer. "Yeah, here we are. Lankeer was one of the outlying worlds, you were right. They were going to join the Alliance of the Seven Systems, but then something happened."

"What happened?" Sam and Dean chorused, and Cas couldn't help but smile.

"Now, see, that's the problem," Bobby answered, scratching the back of his neck. "Nobody knows for certain. About three months before they were scheduled to join the Alliance, all communications to and from Lankeer simply - stopped."

"Stopped?" all three Winchesters gasped, and Sam shook his head. "That can't be right, Bobby - communications don't just _stop._ Not without a reason."

"Oh, there's reasons," Bobby nodded. "There's a whole pile of reasons. But nobody knows for certain what's real and what's rumour."

Dean was shaking his head now. "Well, hasn't anyone ever gone to Lankeer to figure it out?"

Bobby fixed him with a steel glare. "The Bermuda Triangle mean anything to you?"

Dean sat back in his chair. "Well, shit."

"Told you."

Sam blew the air out of his cheeks. "So, basically, once we get there we're going to be on our own."

Bobby shrugged. "Probably. Make sure you're well-stocked."

"We loaded up at the last Alliance base," Cas put in. "We're fully stocked."

Bobby nodded, then leaned forward a little. "I don't hear from you boys in a standard week? I'm comin' after you."

"Thanks, Bobby," Dean began, "but-"

"And I'm bringin' Ellen with me."

"We'll find some way to contact you," Sam put in hurriedly. Ellen's wrath when they were out of contact awhile was something they had faced a couple of times and never wanted to face again.

"See that you do. And boys?" Bobby reached for the video feed controls. "Take care of yourselves."

Then the screen went dark.

"So," Sam said in the sudden silence. "Two days till worldfall. Anybody got any ideas?"

Dean swiveled the pilot's chair to face them both. "I say we make certain we're prepared for anything. Get the Impala's armaments and defenses charged and ready."

"And once we get there," Cas put in. "I suggest we do a cloaked sub-orbital fly-by reconnaisance before we roll in on the ground." His eyes quickly cut to Dean. "I'll do the flying, so you don't need to worry."

"Thanks, man," Dean sighed. The fly-bys were necessary evils of their jobs, but they still made him nervous. Not quite as nervous as plane rides used to, because he trusted Cas completely at the _MaryJohn's _controls. But nervous enough.

Sam turned his attention to Navigation for a moment and made certain they were on-course and would _stay_ on-course this time. "Two days out," he confirmed, turning to the others. "I don't know about you, but I could go for something to eat."

"Sounds good," Dean said, standing up. "Who's in the mood for BLTs and potato chips?"

"I'll make the drinks," Cas said as he stood up.

"Is it real bacon this time?" Sam asked, following them out. "Or the _lranya_ meat?"

"The _lranya_ meat," Dean said. "The last of it until we get back to the Roadhouse."

"Good," Sam nodded. "Tastes about the same and you won't be gas-bombing me and Cas out of the bedroom!"

_"HEY!"_ Dean roared, and their laughter followed his grumbling down the hallway to the mess. "Remind me to remind you that you said that the next time Cas gets hold of some asparagus..."

**SPN LANKEER SPN**

The next 48 hours were a blur of preparation and research. Bobby had sent them an information packet with all the known records of Lankeer, and they had split it up into three parts to digest and discuss.

Lankeer, it seemed, was one of the first worlds colonised by those who had been Removed. In their case, they had been Removed from what appeared to be Egypt around the time of the Pharoahs. "If this architecture and artwork are any indication," Cas finished when he discovered that.

"Egypt, huh?" Sam said, sitting back against the wall and crossing his legs underneath him. Though the _MaryJohn_ had a conference room - or two - they preferred to use their bedroom as a planning session room. For Dean and Sam, it was just the way things were done, having grown up in tiny apartments and motel rooms. For Cas, it was a novelty that he still enjoyed.

"That's what it says," Dean nodded. "Why?"

Sam sighed and thudded the back of his head softly against the wall. "Then we might have a problem. A huge problem."

"What kind of problem?" Cas asked.

Sam looked at him steadily. "There's a theory about Lingual Drift, how languages can change over time. But if these people were Removed from Ancient Egypt? There's no way in_ hell_ that ancient Egyptian would sound anything like modern English."

"Language barrier," Dean growled. "Shit." Then suddenly, his face lit up. "But wait a second - the ship has a translation device!"

"And I can speak all human languages, past and present," Cas said with a wave of his hand. "I'll translate."

Sam shook his head. "You _could_ speak all human languages. Now you have a human _brain_ and it can't hold all those languages. I'll lay odds that you've forgotten over half of them."

Cas shook his head and opened his mouth - and his eyes went huge and his mouth slowly closed. He ran a hand over his nose and mouth and leaned forward a little. "Well, shit," he breathed.

Dean grinned and rubbed a small circle between his shoulderblades, feeling the tiny bumps beside them that indicated that their new brother did, in fact, have actual wings - even if they were hidden most of the time. "It'll be okay. We don't normally need to know more than one or two at a time."

Sam spread his hands. "Except now we _do_. We're not going town to town in America anymore - we're going from _world_ to _world._ And people who speak English are going to be the minority." Dean looked at him in confusion, and he shook his head. "Simple statistics. English is a relative newcomer on the linguistic scene and-"

Dean shook his head. "Okay, I get the point. Gimme a second to think." He turned the small massage into a light scratch down the first few bones of Cas's spine, and the former angel's shoulders rolled in pleasant relief as a tension knot eased and Dean removed his hand. "So...the _MaryJohn's_ got a translation program."

Sam nodded and opened his mouth to reply, but then he noticed Dean's expression. "Okay, you're plotting something."

With a sly grin, Dean stood up - using Cas's shoulder as a brace and earning himself a quick azure glare. "Maybe," was all he'd admit. "Cas, how long will the reconnaisance flight take?"

"Uhm..." Cas's eyes unfocused as he thought. "Perhaps 36 hours."

"So," Dean nodded. "We've got 48 to get to Lankeer, plus another 36 reconnaisance." At Cas's nod, he said, "That gives me just over 80 hours to do this."

He headed for the door as Sam sat up and called, "To do _what,_ Dean?"

"You'll find out!" Dean called over his shoulder as the door closed behind him.

Sam rolled his eyes and blew the air out of his cheeks, leaning back against the wall.

Cas looked over at him. "Does this mean we will have to remind him to eat and sleep and perform his normal bodily functions again?"

"Probably," Sam sighed.

Cas shook his head and yes, that was definitely sarcasm lacing his voice. "Well, doesn't _that_ just make everything fantastic..."

**SPN LANKEER SPN **

Six hours passed without a peep from Dean. That was a little unusual, so Sam left Cas in charge of making sure the systems were running fine and went to the Mess. Making a sandwich and some fries, he went in search of his silent brother.

He found Dean in the Infirmary, of all places, with a notebook in his lap and a pen tip being nibbled away to nothing while his eyes scrolled screen after screen of information on the computer console. "Hey."

Dean looked up and smiled. "Hey." He sat up. "Oooh, I smell fries."

"Yeah, figured you were getting hungry." As Dean set the notebook and pen aside, Sam burst out laughing as his brother's stomach gave a very loud grumble. "And it seems I figured right."

"Yeah, yeah, gimme." As Dean ate, pausing only to go to the sink in the corner of the Infirmary and pour himself a glass of water, Sam picked up the notebook and frowned at it.

"What's this?"

"Schematics," Dean said around a mouthful of sandwich.

Sam frowned. "What language is this?"

"English."

"Looks like Sanskrit."

Dean shrugged. "There's a little bit of Greek in there - electronics are usually marked by Greek symbols, so..."

Sam suddenly understood and nodded, putting the notebook aside. Dean was worlds better at electronics than he was. "So whatever you're plotting has something to do with electronics."

"Nope, not something. It's got _everything_ to do with electronics. And it's complicated, but I think I'm just about there with the theory." He looked at his watch. "Gives me about 72 hours to put it all together, give or take a few."

"Can I help?"

"I don't know, Sammy." And it didn't sound like a tease. Sam looked into his eyes and saw he was being serious.

"Why don't you know?"

"Because I don't know yet what I have to do. If I need an extra set of hands, I'll let you know, okay?"

Sam smiled. "In the meanwhile, how about I keep making sure you take care of yourself?"

Dean frowned. "Huh?"

"You get so wrapped up in your projects that you forget to eat and sleep. A couple of times, we even had to remind you to take a bathroom break!"

"Oh, come on! I'm not that bad!" He got a strange look on his face and put the food aside, standing up.

"Where are you going?"

"Bathroom! That reminded me!" And Dean rolled his eyes as Sam burst out laughing. "Yeah, yeah..."

**SPN LANKEER SPN **

Sam was tired. He'd worked on theory while Cas worked on the trajectory and kept the autopilot on course and while his body wasn't physically tired, his mind could sure use a rest.

So, after a side trip to the mess for a turkey sandwich - Sam loved the tryptophan, put him to sleep faster than warm milk - Sam yawned his way into the quarters, and froze in the doorway, arrested by the bizarre sight of Cas half-dangling over the bottom bunk. "Cas?"

Cas looked up, his eyes bleary with sleep. "Dean's not here."

"I can see that."

"Dean hasn't been here. His bed's not mussed."

Sam nodded. "He's probably still in the lab."

"If he's still in the lab, he's been in the lab or the infirmary for twenty hours straight."

Sam sighed and walked over. He grabbed the belt of Cas's sleep-pants - causing an undignified _squeak_ to erupt from the former angel - and bodily hauled him out of bed, turning him right side up and setting his bare feet on the floor. "You'll give yourself a headache hanging over the side of your bunk like that. Get dressed and let's go haul his ass to bed."

"Again," they sighed in unison, and Cas headed for his dresser. He made a soft noise that might or might not have been a curse and palmed his forehead as he did so.

"Told you," Sam said, rolling his eyes.

"Is this why they call sobering-up headaches hangovers? Because that's what it feels like after you hang over the side of a bed for too long?"

Sam blinked, his eyes going wide for a second before he frowned. "I really don't know, Cas."

"Okay." He headed into the bathroom as Sam sank onto his own bed and looked at the bunk beds, his ever-active mind slotting Cas's theory into place and trying it out for size.

"Huh," he said, shaking his head and looking ruefully at the bed that it seemed he would not be sleeping in for awhile. "...waste of good tryptophan..."

**SPN LANKEER SPN **

Sure enough, they found Dean in the infirmary, a gone-cold soldering iron held loosely in his right hand and his head pillowed on his left arm. It was plain he'd been working very hard on something very small when he'd just simply conked out.

Cas gently took the tool from his hand and Sam worked the magnifying goggles off of his face. "Wonder what he was working on so hard," Cas asked as he steadied the bench as Sam pulled Dean's chair back.

Dean made a noise and opened his eyes slightly as he felt himself being moved. Sam smiled. He knew that his brother's sleeping mind could sense the part of his own soul housed inside Sam and wasn't afraid or concerned, because he knew who had him. "It's me," he said anyway. "Back to rest, all is well."

Dean's jade eyes closed completely as Sam lifted him into his arms. "Bed for all of us, I think," Sam replied.

Cas nodded. "We've got another 30 hours before we're there and another 30 of reconnaisance flight, so yeah, we could all use some rest." He touched the wall and the lights in the infirmary went off with a thought. "You get him settled and I'll be there once I make certain the autopilot hasn't suddenly developed a mind of its own again."

"That autopilot gives new meaning to the term 'artificial intelligence'," Sam quipped softly, and Cas grinned back at him before jogging toward the bridge. "Okay, you," he said to his sleeping brother. "Time for bed."

Dean made a noise that might or might not have been agreement - he was too asleep to be articulate - and Sam got him changed into his pyjamas and tucked into the bottom bunk just as Cas came in and immediately climbed the ladder to the top one.

Sam smiled and changed his own clothes. "The autopilot behaving itself?"

"For now." Cas made a satisfied sigh as he climbed underneath warm blankets. "You able to rest after the jolt I gave you with Dean not being here?"

"Yeah, dude, I'm fine." And he was. He still felt the tryptophan in his system and he knew he was going to sleep very well once he dragged the covers over him and closed his eyes.

Sam turned out the lights with a thought and his dreams took him away seconds later.

**SPN LANKEER SPN**

Three hours into Cas's reconnaisance flight over Lankeer, Dean walked onto the bridge all smiles. Sam looked up from Navigation and returned the smile. "What's got you looking so smugly self-satisfied?" he asked teasingly.

Dean held up a pair of single-use syringes. "I did it, man." The smile lasted until he happened to glance at the viewscreen and instead of starfield, he saw clouds and flashes of farmland. Dean swallowed hard, feeling his stomach roll.

Sam stood and walked over to Dean, hauling them into the hallway outside the Bridge. When Dean was through swallowing hard and looked like he was regaining some colour, Sam asked, "Before I congratulate you, what did you do?"

Dean laughed softly, feeling worlds better already. "I found the translation program and used the i_MaryJohn/i's_ computers to help me copy it and miniaturise it. These are universal translators - I just need to inject you and Cas with them and they'll be working in no time."

"Wait - inject me and Cas?" His eyes scanned Dean's arms, finding the bandaid on his bicep exposed by the t-shirt. "You've already injected yourself."

"And they work fantastic!"

"And who did you talk to to prove this, since the three of us all speak English?"

Dean's grin only grew. "I radioed Bobby."

"Bobby?"

Dean nodded. "Did you know he speaks perfect Japanese?"

"No!" Sam started to grin. "And now, do you?"

In reply, Dean rattled off a sentence in perfect Japanese.

"Guess so. Showoff."

Dean laughed and held up one of the syringes. "Yeah?"

Sam pulled his arm out of his shirt and held it out. "Go for it."

As Dean injected him, Sam winced and said, "Hope it works as well on Egyptian as it does on Japanese."

"Yeah," Dean sighed. "Me, too."

Cas's voice suddenly rang through the doors. "Better come in and strap down. We're landing!"

As they walked in, Dean asked, "Already? I thought we'd be going for another day!"

"So did I," Cas said. "But things changed."

**CONTINUED...**


	3. Flight

**LANKEER**

**CHAPTER THREE**

Dean frowned. "'Things changed'? What do you mean, 'things changed'?"

Cas frowned at him over his shoulder. "Is something wrong with your hearing, Dean? I said exactly what I meant. I found something that changed everything." He turned back to the controls as Sam went to the copilot's chair and Dean sat behind Cas, who completely missed the look of shock that passed between them as they strapped in.

Cas was asking about Dean's hearing - when Dean and Sam both were worried about _his_ hearing.

There was some kind of poetic irony in that.

"Where are we going?" Sam asked, one eye on the readout that automatically mapped and plotted courses for the autopilot.

Cas nodded toward the display, not taking his eyes from his own instruments except to glance at the viewscreen to visually check his position. "On the other side of those hills. We're still high enough that we won't be easily seen by any of the local popul- oh, you have got to be _kidding_ me."

Sam let out a chuckle. "No, it ain't kidding you."

"What?" Dean snarled, feeling blind since he couldn't see the instruments for himself.

"The autopilot came on," Sam informed him as Cas fought with the _MaryJohn's_ controls. "It apparently didn't like that Cas is doing the flying himself."

"...swear, this thing hates me," Cas growled and it was obvious that he hadn't intended to be heard. "...gonna rip its guts out and have Dean rebuild it as a toaster..."

Dean snickered softly at that image.

"There!" Sam cried out suddenly. "Autopilot disengaged!"

Dean felt the shift - the _MaryJohn _suddenly flew a little straighter, the winds in the atmosphere being better compensated for. "Wow, it feels a lot different when you're flying her!"

"At least in atmosphere," Cas said, tilting his head in that strange manner he still sometimes did when he was concentrating intently.

"I get it," Sam said, turning to smile at Cas. "The autopilot was programmed to fly in vacuum."

Dean nodded, suddenly getting it as well. "And Cas, here, has flown most of his life in atmosphere. Technology versus being created with actual wings and knowing how to use them."

"Okay, this ain't gonna cut it," Cas suddenly said, showing just how close of quarters the brothers now shared. "You two, shield your eyes. It's about to get very bright in here." With that, he reached over his head, and shut off the viewscreen completely.

"Cas?" Sam questioned, frowning.

Cas just smiled at him for a second, then began pressing a series of buttons. There was a low rumble, and then three partitions began to raise. One was at the front of the bridge, and one was on either side of it.

Dean gasped as natural sunlight flooded the _MaryJohn's_ bridge. "Windows and a windshield?"

"Windows and a windshield," Cas replied. "Not very practical in the vacuum, but absolutely essential to see where you're going when you're traveling in atmosphere. Or when you're landing." He gestured to a small valley between two jagged peaks. "We're putting down there."

"Is that a river?" Sam asked, leaning forward for a better look.

Cas nodded. "I think so. Which is going to be very helpful. We can store some water while we're here, and..." A sudden sound made him turn his head slightly. "Uh... Sam?"

"Yeah?"

"Check on Dean, please."

Realising that Cas needed to focus on landing them safely, Sam turned in his chair to face his older brother. He nodded slightly, unable to keep the fond smile from his lips.

Dean had curled slightly in on himself, as best as the restraints would allow. His face was buried in his hands and slight but persistent tremours wracked his frame.

Now that they could see where they were going, Dean's fear of flight had returned with a vengeance. "He'll be fine once we're on the ground," Sam said, turning back around and already plotting mild sedatives to administer on their return trip through the atmosphere.

Vacuum didn't bother Dean, because there was no "high" in space. There was no "up" or "down" or "falling out of the sky". Those things only existed on worlds, so traveling in vacuum didn't trip Dean's persistent fear of flying.

Traveling in atmosphere, however, was entirely another story.

"How soon is _that_ gonna be?" Dean groaned into his palms.

"Till we're on the ground?" Sam asked and at the bent head's jerky nod, he waited for Cas to answer that.

But Cas didn't seem to have heard the question. "Cas?" Sam asked him. "How soon till we're on the ground?"

"About ten minutes," Cas replied. "I'm slowing us down now."

Exactly twelve minutes later, the _MaryJohn_ landed with a soft sigh in the small valley, beside the river.

Exactly thirty seconds after that, Dean lost the battle with nausea he'd been fighting since the windows had opened.

As he recovered from that, Dean looked blearily up at Cas, who had brought him some water while Sam took care of the mess. "Hey, Cas?" Dean asked in between sips of water. "You never did tell us what you saw that made you land so quick."

"I found what almost hit us in the vacuum," Cas informed them. "And it's nothing natural."

"Nothing natural?" Sam asked, frowning. "What does that mean?"

"Our kind of job?" Dean asked, eyes narrowing. "Out here?"

Cas blinked. "No! Well.. maybe, but it's too soon to tell. I mean that it's not a natural rock formation like an asteroid or a meteor or... or a plain old rock. I mean that it's something that's been _made."_

"Like a ship?" Sam and Dean asked in unison.

"Exactly like a ship." Cas frowned slightly as Dean stood up and walked over to him with the last syringe. "What's that?"

"The translator." He pushed up the arm of Cas's bright blue t-shirt.

Cas shook his head. "It is not necessary, Dean. I told you, I was an angel. I should still have access to the languages I spoke when I was- _OW!"_

Dean smiled at the look of combined shock, betrayal and slight pain Cas turned on him - the same look he'd seen on Sam's face when he'd trick the little boy into having his vaccinations. "All done," he said in the same tone he'd used with his brother back then. He rubbed the spot with the heel of his hand to encourage the tiny translator to be on its way, and at the glare Cas shot him he asked in the same tone, "You were a very good boy. You want a milkshake?"

Sam barked a laugh at hearing the same words in the same tone turned on someone else.

"We'll call it a rain check," Cas growled, standing up and clamping one hand over his wound. "For now, let's focus on finding out what that ship is and why it's here."

"What it wants on Lankeer," Sam nodded, shooting a glare at Dean when he snickered. "What?"

"You two just rhymed."

"Oh, for the love of-" Sam threw up his hands and followed Cas off the bridge.

Laughing, Dean followed. Any day he didn't irritate his little brothers was a day wasted.

**SPN LANKEER SPN**

This was the part of their new job that Dean completely and utterly hated.

All banter and teasing was long forgotten, now, as he watched his youngest brother - the one that was there by choice instead of by birth - strip off his shirt and strap on a pair of holsters. One held a gun and the other a knife. "Are you sure this is absolutely necessary?"

"The ship makes too much noise this close to the ground," Cas said calmly, keying in the sequence that would lower the _MaryJohn's_ main ramp. "And we don't want to risk all of us going in with the Impala until we know a little more about what we're facing instead of just 'it's a ship'."

Dean sighed, unable to keep the slight scowl from his lips and helpless to stop the twitching of the muscle along his jawline.

Sam curled a hand over his shoulder. "Dean - we know you'd take his place if you could."

"Doesn't make it any easier," Dean growled. "Don't like sendin' either one of you out into the unknown all alone."

Cas smiled at him. "I'll be careful, Dean. I always am."

"That ain't the point, Cas."

The smile faltered. "I know."

After a long moment, Dean raised his chin. "Be safe."

"As I can be." Cas turned to face the landscape stretching out beyond the hatch. He walked down the ramp and they all saw him take a huge breath.

Then another. His shoulders rolled.

Another. His head rolled, now, taking some of the tension out of his neck.

Then, Cas's shoulders snapped back and then forward like he had been hit. At the same instant, his wings unfurled from their hidden nubs, reaching for the horizon on each side of him.

Dean and Sam's breath caught at the sight, as they always did.

Cas's wings were huge - easily a twelve-foot wingspan. They were light grey with darker grey and white stripes that gave them the appearance of actual birds' wings.

They had been pure white, once, Cas had told them. Back before he'd chosen to become what he now was - more human than angel. The wings had altered colour to reflect his new self. They could also now be seen with human eyes in safety.

But they were still as functional as they ever were. Dean and Sam watched as they beat slowly, exercising just a second, before Cas crouched down and the wings stilled, curled against his back and down onto his hips and thighs.

Then, with one powerful stroke of the wings and straightening of Cas's legs, the booted feet left the ground.

Cas was airborne.

They watched him vanish over the lip of the valley and Sam squeezed Dean's shoulder. "C'mon. Let's get the Impala ready to roll."

"Yeah," Dean said, still staring after Cas.

"He'll be fine."

"I know. It's just that..."

"Yeah, I know. He's a Winchester, now. He's family. And you hate to send family out without backup."

"Yeah," Dean sighed miserably.

"Which is the entire reason he didn't go without backup this time."

Dean frowned and turned to look at Sam. "What?"

Sam grinned and held up his left wrist. On it was a very familiar device - one Dean had been tinkering with for weeks.

Dean felt his eyes go huge. "I didn't even think of that."

"We tested them out while you were sleeping off your translator miniaturisation migraine. They work."

Dean grinned. "Of course they work. I designed them."

Sam laughed. "C'mon, Mechanical Man, let's get ready to roll."

As Dean followed, he asked, "Hey, Sammy? You did remember to get the third one of those wrist-radios, didn't you?"

**SPN LANKEER SPN**

General Ferri was at her desk doing paperwork when a knock sounded on her door. She looked up and smiled. "Enter, Ateno. What can I do for you?"

Ateno, her second in command, smiled as he walked in. "Well, there is always the offer of dinner..."

"Ateno," she chided. It was an old argument that now had the flavour of a gentle tease between friends.

He laughed slightly then sobered. "All seriousness, General. Patrols have spotted something odd in the sky over the outlands."

"Odd like how?"

"Odd like a flying man."

Ferri frowned deeply. She finished the paper she was working on swiftly and all but slammed her pen back into its holder. "What exactly are they seeing and where exactly are they seeing it?"

Ateno nodded as she stood and grabbed her jacket. He closed the door behind them and led her down the hallway. "As I said, in the outlands. To the west of Thebes-Mut."

Ferri hummed as she pondered this. "Very well, then take me to the monitoring station. Because, Ateno - flying men do not exist. They can not exist."

"What if it does exist? What then?"

She whirled onto Ateno and her glare seared him like fire. "A flying man? A Ba-bird?"

Ateno's eyes narrowed. "A soul-demon? There are other explanations for a man in flight. A flight-pack. Mechanical wings."

Ferri smiled, her anger tempered by his logical words. "Then we shall assume it is that."

"What else can it be?" Ateno shrugged. "People can not have wings like birds."

"No. That would make them Ba-birds. Or worse - freaks of nature. Abominations."

They walked into the monitoring station and someone yelled, "General on the premises!" The entire room shot to their feet.

Ferri laughed. "Stand down, people. Captain."

"General," the head of the monitoring station told her.

"I hear you've found something strange."

"Yes, ma'am. Right this way." She turned to the monitors. "Corvan, bring up the tape for the outlands west of Thebes-Mut."

"Yes, Captain Tujon." The named technician pulled up the footage.

Ferri frowned. "There is nothing there."

"This is a loop, ma'am. Watch, here." Corvan put a finger on an area of the screen.

Nodding, Ferri watched the indicated area.

They had all seen birds fly in front of the screen before, and when the wings came into view Ferri thought for a moment it was another bird, though one with strangely coloured plumage. But then the wings canted and the figure banked, and she gasped as a slim man wearing dark blue leggings of some type of coarsely-woven fabric and black boots was revealed to be attached to the wings. The wind seemed to ruffle his dark curly hair like a pair of gentle lover's hands as he soared.

Ferri's eyes narrowed.

"Well," Ateno murmured. "Not a pair of mechanical wings."

"He is armed," Corvan pointed out. "He carries a pistol and a knife."

Ferri ordered Corvan to print out a still picture of the flying man. Once she had it in her hands, she moved to a strong light source and studied it closely.

Ateno followed her. "Well?"

"Well, it is definitely not a Ba-bird."

"And you can tell this how?"

She tapped the photograph. "He is smiling. Ba-birds do not smile, do not enjoy their flight. He is clearly enjoying himself. He clearly enjoys flying."

Ateno was silent for a long moment, then he turned to her. "Then what is he?"

There was not one second of hesitation. "He is an abomination. And he will be treated as such." She spun on her heel and headed out of the room.

Ateno stared at the picture for a long moment, feeling a ribbon of ice slither down his spine like a serpent.

**SPN LANKEER SPN**

Cas soared over the city and headed back toward the _MaryJohn_. He had seen a city very reminiscent of both New York and Cairo. He had seen a population nervous and on edge.

He had waved at a little boy who had spotted him and had waved back with a huge grin on his face.

Cas grinned as he glided over the long desert. He glanced down and saw the Impala cruising below him.

Suddenly the Impala's running lights blinked twice in rapid succession. Laughing, Cas banked left and right - waggling his wings as if waving at them.

The Winchesters had seen each other.

Cas banked again, coming around for another pass and falling into position over the Impala. He guided it toward the city, keeping his brothers from getting lost.

His wrist radio crackled. _"So tell me,"_ Dean cracked, _"how many hot chicks did you see?"_

Laughing, Cas put his wrist to his mouth and spoke into the radio. "Wouldn't you like to know?"

He could hear Sam laughing, which made his own grin grow.

_"Ass,"_ Dean shot back. _"What did you see?"_

"A recogniseable city. I saw a child. There's some cars, there's some flying machines...I'd say that we could blend in well once I join you and hide my wings again."

_"Hey, Cas, meet us over the ridge over there,"_ Sam put in. _"I think we can join up there in privacy and I have your jacket and shirts."_

"Thanks, Sam. I appreciate it. Do you mean the ridge that looks like a woman's profile?"

_"Yeah, I noticed that,"_ Dean said. _"Looks like a woman's -"_

_"Yeah, Cas, that's the one,"_ Sam interrupted, with a slight laugh._ "Ten minutes?"_

"Ten minutes," Cas agreed and banked again, sliding a little ahead of the Impala and gliding toward the indicated ridge.

Inside the Impala, Sam rolled his eyes and huffed out a laugh as he glanced over at Dean.

"What?" Dean asked with a grin, scanning the sky and nodding in satisfaction when he saw Cas glide in front of them, heading for the ridge where they would reunite.

"Just glad that, no matter what, some things don't ever change," Sam grinned.

Dean shook his head, chuckling. Then the smile dropped off his face as a small flying machine glided over the horizon. "Hey...Sam?"

"I see it," Sam said, lifting his wrist. "Hey, Cas? Bogie at four o'clock."

_"I see it,"_ Cas replied. _"I'm going to check it over."_ He began a turn that would take

him closer to the machine.

Dean saw the sunlight glint off a piece of metal that wasn't there ten seconds before. "Cas!" he screamed into the radio._ "Evasive! Now!"_

They watched Cas suddenly shift position again, going higher as if to get above the danger

They watched the craft discharge one single shot.

They screamed denials in unison as they helplessly watched their former-angel brother topple from the sky, his right wing a mass of smoking feathers.

**CONTINUED...**


	4. Abomination

**LANKEER**

**CHAPTER FOUR**

To Sam and Dean's combined relief and horror, Cas didn't hit the ground. Relief because the flying machine performed a spectacular maneouvre and caught the wounded winged man.

Horror because the flying machine sailed off with Cas imprisoned within.

Dean threw the Impala into gear and tore after it. "Sammy..."

"Already on it." Sam lowered what had once been the flap to the glove box. Now it was a small navigation and weapons control station.

The Impala had been altered as much as the brothers themselves had. It was now perfectly suited for ground exploration on alien worlds. It boasted a complete life support system, solar and oxygen cells constantly recharged for fuel, a propulsion system that was mute testimony to Dean's skill with electronics, and a full array of weaponry. A computer net wound throughout her body, making her all but sentient. All of it was controlled by the tiny board now resting on Sam's lap.

Each of the three had tracking devices implanted behind their left ears before they had left the main B'shain ship for the _MaryJohn_, and it was this that the computer was now tracking. "Ten degrees northeast," Sam reported. "They're taking him to that city he said he saw. Want me to see if I can tap into their computer system? Assuming they have one?"

"Go for it," Dean said, gritting his teeth against the worry blooming.

Cas's right wing had been shredded. Could he retract it? Would their brother ever fly again? It would kill Cas to be grounded. You don't live however the hell long Cas had lived as an angel and then come out of it mostly human but still able to fly for a reason - only to be crippled and have one functional wing.

That would be the cruelest of fates for someone like Cas. And if Dean could help it, it was a fate he was not going to permit to happen. He was learning more and more and more about the _MaryJohn _every day. He could learn to use the Infirmary's equipment for something other than parts fodder.

They would get their brother back. And once they'd healed Cas, those responsible for hurting him would be made to pay.

Dean would see to it personally.

"There," Sam pointed at a tower complex. "They're flying there."

"Looks like it's on the other side of the city," Dean said. He abruptly changed direction, steering the Impala away from the city!

"Uh...Dean?"

"Quicker this way than fighting traffic."

"You're still assuming it's like Earth."

"You're still chiding me instead of trying to crack their computer system."

Sam shot him a glare, then turned back to his work.

"Sammy, I know you can do this, okay?"

The smile was real as Sam replied, "Thanks." Cas had been talking to them about their "appalling communications skills" and it seemed to be taking root. There was a moment of tense silence as the miles were eaten away under the Impala's tyres, then Sam grinned. "Got it."

"You're in?"

"I'm in." He tilted his head up. "You were right, that tower's their central command. We get there, we get Cas out, we get out of here."

"Wonder if that's why this planet is such a Bermuda Triangle," Dean said, angling the car toward the city at last. "They capture everybody different?"

"Not everybody," Sam pointed out. "We're still loose."

Dean grinned at that, but it didn't quite reach his eyes. "And these people have no idea what they've just unleashed when they shot Cas down."

Sam nodded, pulling his gun out of its holster in the side of the door. "Do we have any idea what they've unleashed?"

"Not yet," Dean admitted. "But give me a few minutes."

Sam couldn't help the laughter. Some things, it seemed, never changed.

And he found that incredibly reassuring.

**SPN LANKEER SPN**

His first sensation was pain in his right wing. His next was that he was gasping for air and dripping wet.

His third was a cold voice. "General, he wakes."

"Good." This voice was a woman's, dripping icicles. He felt fingers entwine in his curly hair, using it as a lever to jerk his head backward. "Open your eyes."

He forced his eyes open and beheld a woman approximately 40 years of age, with a single thin strip of white down the centre part of her raven hair. It complimented her olive skin perfectly, and her eyes - though beautiful - blazed with anger.

And that was the instant Cas realised he really needed to stop reading pulp novels before he went to bed, if that was how his internal thoughts were going to sound.

"What are you?" the woman growled, her face so close to his that Cas could smell the spices from her latest meal lingering on her breath.

"M'Cas Winchester," he slurred through the pain.

"I asked the _what_ of you, not the _who_ of you!" She released him and his head fell forward.

"...m'wet...why'm I wet?"

"That was my doing," the first voice spoke again. "I threw water on you to rouse you."

"M'wing..." He wobbled his head up. "...please...need t'heal it..."

"Yes," the woman sneered. "Your _wing._ You are a winged man."

His head wobbled in a nod.

"A ba-bird?"

"No...not spirit..."

"No, that is plain," she said with a nod. "You are a man."

"Yeah..."

"A _human_ man."

He wobbled a nod.

"With _wings."_

He shifted position and grunted as the injured wing screamed in protest and froze when he realised that he was strapped to a chair.

She leaned in close again, not touching him this time. Her voice was low and hissing, resembling a serpent more than a female voice. "You. Are. An._ Abomination."_

Cas felt his eyes go huge. Never in his long life had he been spoken of like that. "No...m'_not..."_

She backhanded him, snapping his head around so hard he gasped. "Silence, Abomination! You will only speak to answer questions!"

Unable to stop the soft sob that erupted from his throat at the unexpected blow and repeated words of poisonous untruth, Cas squeezed his eyes shut and prayed harder than he had ever prayed in his life.

_Please...let Dean and Sam find me quickly..._

**SPN LANKEER SPN**

Finding a spot for the Impala was not difficult. Sliding into the city proper was a bit of a jolt, when they realised their comparatively pale skin made them stand out like beacons.

"How are we gonna sneak into the tower?" Dean whispered as they neared it. "We're already getting stares because we're light..."

"Your blond hair especially sticks out like a sore thumb," Sam whispered in return. "Not to mention we're both at least a head taller than most of the population..."

Dean scoffed. "So used to standing next to you that it's strange to feel _tall."_ He grinned at the glare, then slapped Sam's arm. "Hey, I got an idea. Come on."

Rolling his eyes heavenward for just a moment, Sam followed his brother.

If anyone would have asked Sam, he would have told them that the idea was too simple to work - a thrown rock, a yell of "Stop! Thief!" and the guards would take off in that direction and they'd slide into the tower.

But it did work - partially. One of the guards took off after the sound. The other one was taken down quickly by the butt of Dean's gun to the back of his head.

One of the last things they knew from the Impala's scanners was that Cas was being held in one place now - near the top of the tower. A straight elevator ride would have taken too long, so they alternated between elevators and stairs until they were at the top section of the tower.

Then they methodically searched every room. Every closet. Every stairwell.

Dean's frustration was growing with every empty space and every person they found that wasn't Cas. "You're _sure_ it said he was _here?"_

Sam's was doing a quieter burn, but it was burning nonetheless. "Yeah, I'm sure - as sure as I can be. We are dealing with technology, after all..."

Dean growled something unflattering and barely audible.

"...and honestly, it's not like either of us has any practical experience with away missions. Lifelong viewings of _Star Trek_ and _Star Wars_ notwithstanding, this is our first time actually _doing_ it..."

There was a long moment's silence, then Dean turned to face him with a grin. "Why, Sammy," he said, his eyes glittering with mirth. "You make it sound like something salacious..."

Sam's jaw closed so fast Dean actually heard his teeth click together. "Jerk," he snarled, glaring at his brother.

"Bitch," Dean chuckled. "Come on, let's get going."

The next three floors were just as frustratingly empty as the first ones had been. By now, Dean was doing a slow, silent burn of his own.

By now, Sam was starting to notice something that he wasn't very happy with. "Hey...Dean?"

"Yeah?"

"Where are all the guards?"

Dean stopped walking and looked over at him. "You're complaining because there aren't guards up here?"

"They have flying machines with armaments capable of shooting Cas out of the sky. They are seemingly well-armed and mobilised. We followed a _spaceship_ here, after all. And they leave a tower - presumably their main base of operation and we definitely know it's where Cas is being held - somewhere - unguarded? It doesn't make any sense."

Jade eyes narrowed to furious slits. Dean's voice was a low growl. "You're saying we're bein' herded."

"Yeah," Sam said, shifting position and glancing around. "That's exactly what I'm saying."

"Big question is, where are we being herded _to."_

"Right."

Dean licked his lips. "I'm thinking we go along with it for now. I've got this feeling that we're being herded right to Cas."

"Yeah...but why?"

"Haven't gotten that far, yet."

"What do we do when we get there?"

"Haven't gotten that far, either."

"Wow," Sam couldn't help but chuckle. "You _suck."_

Dean rolled his eyes. "Come _on."_

**SPN LANKEER SPN**

Four unfruitful floors later, Sam opened a door and there was the most welcome sight in the world. "Dean! Found him!"

Dean joined him in the doorway. "Cas!"

They both surged forward. Cas was strapped to a chair by his forearms and calves. His damaged right wing trailed the ground behind him and his left one was strapped to his shoulder. His head wobbled up. "No...get out..."

"Not without you," Dean said, crouching in front of him and starting to work on the knots.

"No...No...trap..."

"We know," Sam said. "We're still not leaving without you."

Cas shook his head, azure eyes huge. "Please...go..."

There was a loud slam and they turned to find the door out of the room closed. A man smirked at them through a window that was suddenly in the door, then it was closed.

Dean slowly stood. "...the _hell?"_

Cas closed his eyes. "...too late..."

Sam pulled the ropes free and lifted Cas into his arms, careful of the damaged wing. "Window?"

"Window." Dean moved toward it, drawing his gun to shatter the window once he reached it.

He never reached it. A skylight sighed open and a round object the size of a baseball was tossed in. The skylight was hurriedly closed.

Clouds of grey-white gas began to billow from the object._ "Move!"_ Dean yelled. "Move, move!"

They raced toward the exits, coughing from the gas. Dean's knees buckled and he fell mere feet from the door.

Sam felt Cas go limp in his arms and he raised his foot to kick the door open. Overbalancing, he fell onto his back, Cas's unconscious body sprawled over his.

_I'm sorry, Cas_ was the last thing that crossed Sam's mind before unconsciousness stole him away.

**SPN LANKEER SPN**

His first impression was that his chest hurt and felt tight. It felt like he was a little boy again, struggling to inhale as the asthma strangled his lungs and laughed at him.

An attempt to draw in a breath was successful, and the tight band constricting his chest eased a bit. More deep breaths cleared it completely.

Once breathing was taken care of, he took stock of his situation. He realised he was tied to a chair - exactly as Cas had been when they had finally located...

_Cas._

_Sam._

Dean slowly shook the miniature Impalas off of his eyelids and forced them to raise. As he'd feared, neither of his brothers were in sight.

He was not alone in the room, however. A man in a military looking uniform stood contemplating him. "Ah, you finally wake."

A jolt of pride surged through Dean - his translation program had done its job! It was quickly followed by anger. "Where are my brothers?"

The man's head tilted and Dean was immediately reminded of how Cas had acted when they had first met. "Brother_s,"_ he mused, fascinated by the plural. "They are _both_ akin to you?"

"Yeah," Dean snarled, testing his bonds. "They are _both_ my brothers!" He saw no need to mention that they had adopted Cas or that his Winchester DNA had been given rather than inborn. "What have you _done_ with them?"

But the man seemed to have his brain stuck on the fact that they were brothers. "Brothers..." he repeated, moving toward the door.

"Hey!" Dean yelled.

The man waved a hand toward Dean. "Stay there," he said distractedly as he headed through the door.

Dean snorted. "You're kidding, right? Hey!" he roared. _"HEY! GET BACK HERE! WHERE ARE MY BROTHERS? HEY! __**HEY!"**_

**SPN LANKEER SPN**

A searing ribbon of fire roared its way down into his shoulder. The shock of it sent a gasping cry ripping from his throat and his closed eyes flew open as if they had sprouted wings of their own.

"That is sufficient." His head turned and there was the woman from before, her features impassive as she stared at him.

The sudden retreat of pain very nearly caused him to black out again. He blinked the darkness away as he saw a man walk from behind him. "...what...were you doing..."

The man smirked. "Testing a theory," he growled. "That your wings feel as the rest of you do."

"They are part of me, if that's what you mean," Cas replied, as part of him marveled that he could still speak through a throat scraped raw from screaming.

"That is what I said," the man frowned. "Do you not understand my speech?"

"It is...stilted," Cas said, panting slightly from the pain.

The woman nodded slowly. "Then you are hearing us through a translation program. You do not speak Lankare."

That didn't translate - that meant it was the proper name of something. Cas nodded. "That is correct."

"Your speech sounds stilted to us," the man said. "So your translation program is translating your words for us." He turned to her. "That would be why his lips do not match his words at times."

"Makes sense," she nodded again.

"I would like to test other theories," the man said, looking at Cas.

"Such as?" she asked.

"Birds have hollow bones. I would like to see if this bird-man does as well."

"How do you plan to do that?" the woman asked.

The man smiled and the sight of it made coldness slither down Cas's spine. "Why, break one, of course." He waved a hand. "Though, with him being the abomination that he is, perhaps we won't stop at one."

Cas felt the coldness only deepen at the woman's answering smile. She opened her mouth to answer the man, and a second man walked in. He whispered something in her ear, and she frowned deeply. "You are certain?" The second man nodded, and she turned back to Cas, her eyes narrowing. "Do nothing yet," she ordered the first man as she followed the second out of the room.

Perhaps it was only his imagination, but Cas thought the first man appeared disappointed that he had to wait.

Cas couldn't allow himself to feel relieved, yet. His torture was not over.

It had merely been delayed.

**SPN LANKEER SPN**

Sam raised his head when the woman and man who had talked to her came into the room where he sat lashed to a chair. He fixed her with the fiercest glare he could manage.

She smirked at him. "Brothers. The three of you are all brothers."

Sam didn't answer her.

A dark eyebrow rose. "You can forget the silent act. We heard you speak when you were trying to rescue the Abomination."

That caused both of Sam's eyebrows to shoot up, but then his eyes narrowed and his lips thinned. He still made no sound.

"Fine. If you will not give us what we need, we shall take something of yours." She nodded to the man with her. "Bring me his hand." She spun on her heel and left the room.

The man drew a machete and approached Sam. "Please...Please, tell us what we need to know. I don't want to do this."

Sam just glared up at him.

The man tightened the strap holding Sam's right hand immobile. He took hold of the back of it, forcing it flat and put the sharp edge of the machete onto the cuff of Sam's shirt just below the strap. "Please."

Sam turned his hand over and gave the man's a forgiving squeeze before he turned it back and closed his eyes.

How was he going to explain this to Dean?

He felt the man raise the machete.

He heard the man's whispered, "I'm sorry."

Then he heard it hiss through the air and felt it impact his arm with a metallic _thunk._

**CONTINUED...**


	5. Brothers

**LANKEER**

**CHAPTER FIVE**

Ateno strode into Ferri's office. "General."

Ferri looked up, a smile touching her lips. "'General', is it, then? What's the matter, Ateno?"

"I must have words with you on your treatment of our...guests."

Her eyes narrowed. "Words?"

"Words." He leaned over her desk. "What in the name of all the gods do you think you're doing?"

"I am dealing with intruders who happen to be abominations."

"I will possibly - _possibly_ - stand in agreement with you on the Winged One. We don't yet know _what_ he is. But the other two are-"

"-his brothers."

Ateno closed his mouth with an audible click and slowly stood up. "Brothers."

"Yes. Brothers. They are of a kindred." She stood and leaned over her desk, facing him. "We have been friends a long time, Ateno. You know me."

He just stared at her.

"You know I do nothing I don't feel is in Lankeer's best interests."

"So you will not stop."

"There is no reason to stop. They are abominations - not human. We have an obligation to see that their kind does not pollute ours."

"Very well." He spun on his heel and moved toward the door.

"Ateno, I did not dismiss you."

"I don't care." He walked out the door and leaned against the wall. "...I thought I knew you, Ferri...now, I am not so sure."

His attention was caught by a white-faced man dashing toward the office. He grabbed his arm. "Hamu, Hamu - calm down, Hamu! What is it?"

"The-the-the..." Hamu stammered, gesturing behind him with a hand that held a machete.

"Mmm," Ateno said, wincing. "First order of business," he muttered, gingerly disarming Hamu and sliding the machete against the wall. "Now - speak."

"The-the General...sh-she ordered me to bring her the silent one's hand!"

Ateno closed his eyes, fury welling up in him. "So," he said, opening them. "Where is it?"

"Still attached to him!" Hamu went even paler, if that were possible, swallowing hard as if to keep his food firmly behind his belt. "I could not cut him! I tried both arms, and I could not cut him!"

"Show me, Hamu." When the man started frantically shaking his head, Ateno grasped his shoulders. "I will handle him on the General's behalf._ Show. Me."_

**SPN LANKEER SPN **

Sam looked up as the door opened. In walked the soldier who had tried to remove his hands, followed by a man of straighter back and unafraid eyes. "There," the first one half-sobbed. "There he sits!"

The second man nodded. "Very well, Hamu. I shall handle this." He turned and lay a hand on his shoulder. "Go to your quarters. Make yourself presentable. Then go home. I fear you have had one too many shocks today."

"Aye, Colonel. Thank you, Colonel." He spun and all but ran from the room.

Once they were alone, the man closed the door and turned to face Sam. "My name is Ateno," he said in a gentle voice. "Have you a name?"

Sam glared at him.

"So I am to call you 'Silent Man' from now on?"

Sam couldn't help it - his lips twitched at the humour.

"Ah, so there is a sense of humour behind those eyes. Can you speak at all?"

His eyes trailed toward the door.

"You are not dealing with Hamu or the General now. And for future reference? I think this is shameful."

His chin rose again, and his eyes looked at the door.

"You wish to be with your brothers."

Fox-like eyes snapped huge, and the jaw lowered as he stared at Ateno.

"I have brothers myself," Ateno said as he stepped closer. "Ferri - the General - she is an only child. I fear she does not understand what it is like to give up everything for someone you share blood with." He reached out. "But I unders-" He broke off as his hand closed over Sam's arm.

Sam stared at him in open challenge.

Ateno blinked, his fingers gently probing Sam's arm. Then his lips twitched. He stepped back, dropped his face in his hands, and let out a laugh muffled by his hands.

Sam glared at him. Dean would have recognised the look immediately.

Ateno shook his head as he got himself under control. "Hamu thinks you are invulnerable."

Eyes widened as that sank in, then Sam lowered his own head and laughed softly.

"Don't worry - your secret is safe with me." Ateno raised Sam's arm as best he could with the restraints, and slid one of the hidden knives from its sheath over Sam's forearm. "I am going to guess that the other arm has a similar one."

Sam's only answer was a small shrug.

Ateno nodded. "I understand. They were in such a hurry to restrain you they did not check for hidden weapons. Our people do not carry weapons on our arms, in any case. They would not have thought to search there."

Sam gasped softly as Ateno regripped the knife and made a single slice. Then he stared in shock as the restraints holding his arm down parted.

Ateno flipped the knife around and presented it hilt-first to Sam. "Let's go find your brothers."

Sam took the knife and cut himself loose, then made the knife vanish. His eyes eloquently asked the question.

He smiled. "As I said - I have brothers. And this treatment is wrong." He led the way to the door, pointedly turning his back on Sam. "And if anyone asks - you are my prisoner and I am transferring you under General Ferri's orders."

"Sam."

Ateno turned, his eyes wide. "And the man _does_ have a voice. What did you say?"

"My name is Sam."

"Greetings to you - Sam. Come, I believe they are holding your brother down this hall."

Sam nodded and fell into step slightly behind him, letting Ateno lead the way.

**SPN LANKEER SPN**

When they came to a room with a nondescript wooden door, Ateno stepped forward to talk to the guards while Sam lingered in the shadows. After a long moment, one of the guards opened the door and another headed toward Sam, who tensed for a fight.

"Easy," the guard said, spreading empty hands. "Come on out to me. Ateno has gone to get your brother. We will lead you to the third." When Sam still hesitated, he smiled. "Not all of us agree with the General on his treatment."

"What treatment?" Sam blurted, then cursed himself for breaking his silence again.

"Bad news." But it was not the guard's voice. Nor Ateno's. It was a voice that had Sam racing from the shadows and past the guard, to taking the arm of the man shaking with rage that Ateno led out of the room.

It had been Dean's voice. Dean looked at him and nodded, curling his fingers on the back of Sam's neck. "M'okay."

"I'm invulnerable," Sam quipped, and Dean frowned deeply.

"General Ferri ordered his hands to be cut off," Ateno said, and Dean's eyes widened, shooting down to where those very intact hands were holding his arm.

Sam chuckled. "They cut above my wrists."

Dean's eyes widened in comprehension. "How many knives are you wearing?"

"Enough," Sam said, and turned to Ateno. "Where's Cas?"

"I don't know," Ateno said. "I only knew where this one was."

"I know," the guard who had approached Sam said. "This way." He took off at a jog, with the Winchesters and Ateno and his fellow guard behind him.

**SPN LANKEER SPN**

The scientist had not managed to return after proposing his bone-breaking experiment. So far as Cas could determine, that was nothing but good. He worked on his bonds, and managed to loosen them a fraction before he heard the distinct click of the door and saw it start to slide open.

He ground his teeth together and raised his chin, determined to not show fear - though he was very much in pain and very much afraid.

He had chosen to take the name Winchester. Time to live up to it.

But when he saw who looked warily around the door, his shoulders slumped in sheer relief - and _OW,_ that didn't feel good on his wing - and he heard himself breathe out, "Oh, thank God..."

"Not out of the woods yet," Dean cracked as Sam produced a knife from seemingly nowhere and moved to eradicate Cas's bonds. "Might wanna hold out on the praise."

"Never," Cas smiled as he stood shakily. He closed his eyes and concentrated on drawing in his wings - and gasped as the pain snapped them wide open and turned his tan complexion to something resembling pea soup cut with milk. "I can't...I can't retract them yet," he gasped. "The right one's...still shattered."

"Don't try," Sam said. "C'mon, we gotta move."

Cas nodded. "I'll try again... in a half hour or so..." Sam and Dean both shot strange looks his way, and he chuckled. "Fast healer, remember?"

"Not _that_ fast," Dean shot back.

"No?" Cas showed them how he could move his right wing outward. "Couldn't do that a half hour ago. They're healing. I just need time."

Ateno jerked his head down an empty hallway. "Time is the one thing we can not give you. You have till the turn of that hallway - then our truce must end of necessity."

"I hear them," Sam said. "Footsteps, coming this way."

"Thanks, man," Dean said with a smile. "We owe you." Then the three of them began a shaky run down the hallway.

As they rounded the corner and grew more steady with their feet underneath them, they heard Ateno's voice bellow, _"THE PRISONERS HAVE ESCAPED! AFTER THEM!"_

Dean kicked open a stairwell and the trio pounded their way down it. "The Impala is ground floor, back entrance!" Dean informed Cas.

"Will I fit? I can't retract my wing back into my body!" Cas gasped.

"You'll fit," the others chorused, and then they saved their breath for the run.

At the ground floor, Dean pointed and they ran toward the rear of the building - pulling up short when they reached the glass-lined atrium beyond which they could see the Impala parked.

Soldiers filled the atrium. Among them was a smirking General Ferri. "Are you planning on leaving us, boys?" she purred. "You won't make it past us. Surrender now and we will make it easy on you. Continue to resist - and it won't go well. Particularly not for you, Abomination."

Cas's eyes flashed with anger as he took a step forward. "My name is Cas Winchester - not 'Abomination'. I will thank you to cease calling me that."

Ferri laughed, as did some of the soldiers with her. When it died down, she said, "Offer stands - _Cas."_ She made his name sound even more of an insult than 'Abomination'. "You can _not_ get past us to your transport."

"Oh, yes," Cas said with a cold smile. "We can."

"Cas," Dean hissed. "I'm unarmed and I don't know how many knives Sam has-"

"Not enough to take them all down," Sam hissed.

"Do you trust me?" Cas whispered.

"Yes, but-" Dean replied.

"Then step closer to me, and cover your ears."

They edged closer to him as if to protect him. "Why?" Sam whispered.

Cas shot him a smile that briefly reached his eyes. "I may not be envesseled..." He said, then turned to face the soldiers.

Dean and Sam both gasped when Cas's eyes turned blue-white from corner to corner and began to glow.

"...but I retain a measure of grace!" Cas snapped. Then he opened his mouth and they saw the cords of his neck snap into view.

A high-pitched whine began to fill the air.

Dean and Sam both slapped their hands over their ears, and gasped when they realised they felt that whine vibrating into their bones.

They were slightly behind Cas, and the sound emanated _from_ Cas, pouring outward to envelop the atrium and the soldiers in it.

Cas's body was vibrating with the power he was putting into that unearthly wail. His hands had clenched into fists, and his white-blue eyes were only halfway open. Both wings were extended, up and out. Each one seemed to shield one of his new brothers from the noise.

The soldiers fell to their knees, except for one who looked blankly around and then winced, stumbling out of the room. Blood slowly appeared between their fingers and Ferri's face became a distorted mask of pain.

One after another, the soldiers toppled over, unconscious and bleeding freely from their ears. When Ferri slumped over, eyes glazed and body twitching, Cas's head snapped backwards slightly.

The sound tipped up - over the downed soldiers - and stopped as Cas sucked in a breath. Then it rippled out again, somehow louder than before.

The glass walls began to rattle in their frames.

Sam's "...oh holy God, what the hell..." was swallowed by the sound, as was Dean's "...holy flaming shit..."

With the unholy crash of a thousand cymbals all together, every pane of glass broke into splinters at the exact same time.

The wail turned into a softly moaned, "...ooh..." and white-blue glowing eyes snapped to dark, human blue as Cas's wings drooped and he sagged backward into their waiting arms.

Dean's hand carded through the sweaty curls that drooped as if exhausted across Cas's forehead. "Cas, what the hell..."

Cas smiled tiredly at him. "...angel's...true voice...screaming..." His eyes closed.

Sam grunted as he lifted Cas into his arms, letting the damaged right wing dangle. "We gotta go!"

"C'mon!" Dean led the way through the mass of downed, bleeding soldiers and gingerly stepped out of the atrium onto the street. "Careful, there's a hell of a lot of glass here..."

"No kidding," Sam said, sparing energy for a quick eye-roll as they maneuvred Cas's unconscious form through the frames together. Then Sam took over carrying him again as Dean ran to the Impala and got it open.

Sam gently lay Cas on the back seat and together they got his wings all clear of the door. Then they got into the front seat and Dean started the engine with the press of his palm against the dashboard.

He couldn't resist flipping the tower the bird as the Impala roared down the street at high speed. The faster they got off this horrible world, the better.

**SPN LANKEER SPN**

When Cas forced leaden eyelids to part, he found himself lying on a bed of B'shain design, with a diagnostic hood draped over the upper half of his body. Licking his lips, he turned to find Dean curled onto his side in the next bed over, sound asleep.

"Ah, awake at last." Cas turned to find Sam walking in and sinking into the chair beside his bed. He smiled and pushed back the hood, and Cas struggled to sit up.

With Sam's help, he managed to make it upright and get a little bit of water into his stomach. "What..." He looked over his shoulder. "My wings..."

"You did that all by yourself, about five hours after we got you back here," Sam informed him. "Sat right up, got that look that Dean calls your 'constipated face', and they faded back to where you keep 'em when they're not out."

Cas made a thoughtful humming noise. "They must have healed enough, then - or the pain would have woken me."

"The scanner said your wing was nearly completely healed. As was your throat - you ripped the hell out of it with that stunt."

Cas shrugged. "It got us free. That's all that matters."

Sam snorted softly. "Now I _know_ you're a real Winchester."

"I've become a real boy!" Cas teased with a huge grin.

"You and those books," Sam laughed. "Yes, you've become a real boy." The smile vanished. "Who's 20% deaf in both ears."

Cas's shoulders slumped and he glanced down at his hands. "I kind of thought so. Things started getting really quiet once we transferred onto the _MaryJohn_."

"Cas." It was Dean, sitting up now. "How'd this happen?"

Sighing, Cas turned to face him and watched Sam go to sit beside him, so they both could face him. "When Gabriel left... after altering us and the Impala ... he-he said I would have a cross to bear, like every human does. He wasn't sure what it would be, himself. But he said I would know it when it arrived." He shrugged. "I suppose it has arrived."

Dean reached over and squeezed Cas's knee in silent support. Cas squirmed, making both of them laugh. "Cas!" Sam laughed. "You're _ticklish!"_

"Hush," Cas snapped. "...just a little bit."

Once the laughter had died down, Dean looked at Sam. "How far out from Lankeer are we?"

"We left their solar system behind two hours ago," Sam said. "We'd have been out sooner, but we've been playing 'avoid the patrols' by hiding in their asteroid field."

Cas frowned. "They've sent patrols after us?" At Sam's nod, he growled and stood up, grabbing his boots and jerking them on with a strange hopping dance as he headed toward the door muttering about "...should have woken me sooner...primary pilot, after all..."

Sam chuckled. "We're okay, Cas! The most exciting thing that happened was Bobby called growling at us in relief because we're free of Lankeer!"

Nodding, Cas paused at the doorway. "Dean?"

"Yeah, Cas?"

"I believe I would like that milkshake you promised me earlier. Vanilla is preferable." He tapped the door and smiled as he left the Infirmary.

Dean blinked after him, then shook his head and softly muttered, "Son of a bitch..." to the tune of Sam's delighted laughter.

**SPN LANKEER SPN**

Ateno closed the door behind him and turned to face the bed. "You wanted to see me, Ferri?"

She glared at him. "You helped them get away."

"I did not," he said. "I raised the alarm once I found them gone."

She leaned forward - as best as she could with the restraints holding her to the bed - and sneered, "Really? That is most peculiar. Since they escaped so soon after your foolish bickering with me about their treatment."

"Which I still disagree with," he pointed out.

She hummed, leaning back on the bed.

"How are you doing, Ferri? Honestly?"

Her look turned into another glare. "I am hearing again - no thanks to the Abomination. I have bouts of dizziness and I have been found unfit to command. Something about reckless disregard for safety and life? You would happen to know nothing of that, would you - _General_ Ateno?"

"Ferri, if I could have stopped it..."

"Oh, don't even try!" she spat. "Of everybody under me - I thought you were a friend!"

"I _am_ your friend! That's why I wanted you to stop! That's why I want to get you the help you so clearly need!"

_"I DON'T NEED THIS KIND OF HELP!"_ she roared.

Ateno sighed and ran his hand over his nose and mouth. "I'm sorry, Ferri. Truly, I am. But this has to end." He turned to leave her room.

"Yes, Ateno." Something in her voice made him freeze. "It has to end."

He turned back, to see her sliding a hand free of the sliced-through restraints. "Ferri?"

"And it ends today." She drew a pistol from beneath her pillow.

"Ferri..." His voice held a note of warning.

"Goodbye, Ateno."

_"FERRI!"_ He surged toward the bed.

The single gunshot sounded loud in the tiny room.

**END**


End file.
